Purpose: We aimed to study the influence of fast-track care programs in total hip and total knee replacements (THR and TKR) at Swedish hospitals on the risk of revision and mortality within 2 years after the operation.
Methods: Data were collected from the Swedish Hip and Knee Arthroplasty Registers (SHAR and SKAR), including 67,913 THR and 59,268 TKR operations from 2011 to 2015 on patients with osteoarthritis. Operations from 2011 to 2015 Revision and mortality in the fast-track group were compared with non-fast-track using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox regression analysis with adjustments.
Results: The hazard ratio (HR) for revision within 2 years after THR with fast-track was 1.19 (CI: 1.03-1.39), indicating increased risk, whereas no increased risk was found in TKR (HR 0.91; CI: 0.79-1.06). The risk of death within 2 years was estimated with a HR of 0.85 (CI: 0.74-0.97) for TKR and 0.96 (CI: 0.85-1.09) for THR in fast-track hospitals compared to non-fast-track.
Conclusions: Fast-track programs at Swedish hospitals were associated with an increased risk of revision in THR but not in TKR, while we found the mortality to be lower (TKR) or similar (THR) as compared to non-fast track.
Keywords: fast-track; mortality; risk of revision; total hip replacement; total knee replacement.